1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SOUTHERN DIVISION 11 12 MELANIE KOTLARSZ, on behalf of )) Case No. 8:24-cv-00569-FWS-JDE herself and all others similarly situated, ) 13 ) STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 14 Plaintiff, ) ) ORDER REGARDING CONFIDENTIALITY ) 15 ) v. ) 16 ) INTEGRITY VEHICLE SERVICES, INC. ) 17 ) ) 18 Defendant. ) 19 20 Based on the parties’ Stipulation (Dkt. 47) and for good cause shown, the 21 Court finds and orders as follows. 22 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 23 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 24 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public 25 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be 26 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 27 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 28 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 1 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 2 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 3 under the applicable legal principles. 4 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 5 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and 6 other valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or 7 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and 8 from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such 9 confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other 10 things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding 11 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or 12 commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third 13 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may 14 be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, 15 court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of 16 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of 17 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to 18 keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses 19 of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their 20 handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order 21 for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that 22 information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that 23 nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in 24 a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be 25 part of the public record of this case. 26 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 27 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this 28 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information 1 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 2 and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court 3 to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right 4 of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non- 5 dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See 6 Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu,

(9th Cir. 2006), 7 Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp.,

, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar- 8 Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc.,

(E.D. Wis. 1999) (even 9 stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of 10 good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal 11 justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to 12 file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material 13 as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent evidence by 14 declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as 15 confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 16 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, 17 then compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and 18 the relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be 19 protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n.,

(9th Cir. 20 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed 21 or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling 22 reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing 23 order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents 24 under seal must be provided by declaration. 25 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable 26 in its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be 27 redacted. If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public 28 viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable 1 portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file 2 documents under seal in their entirety should include an explanation of why 3 redaction is not feasible. 4 4. DEFINITIONS 5 4.1 Action: Melanie Kotlarsz v. Integrity Vehicle Services, Inc., 8:24-cv- 6 00569-FWS-JDE (C.D. Cal.). 7 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 8 designation of information or items under this Order. 9 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 10 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 11 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 12 the Good Cause Statement. 13 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 14 their support staff). 15 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 16 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 17 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 18 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 19 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 20 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced 21 or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery. 22 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 23 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve 24 as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 25 4.8 House Counsel: attorney-employees of a party to this Action. House 26 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 27 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 28 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 1 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 2 party to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have 3 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that 4 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 5 4.11 Party: a party to this Action, including officers, directors, employees, 6 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and support staffs). 7 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 8 Discovery Material in this Action. 9 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 10 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 11 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 12 and their employees and subcontractors. 13 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 14 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 15 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 16 Material from a Producing Party. 17 5. SCOPE 18 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 19 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 20 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 21 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 22 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 23 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 24 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of 25 Protected Material at trial. 26 6. DURATION 27 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 28 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or 1 introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively 2 available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling 3 reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the 4 trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana,

-81 5 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in 6 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are 7 part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend 8 beyond the commencement of the trial. 9 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 10 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for 11 Protection. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or 12 items for protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation 13 to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating 14 Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items 15 or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the 16 material, documents, items or communications for which protection is not 17 warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 18 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 19 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 20 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to 21 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 22 Designating Party to sanctions. 23 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 24 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 25 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 26 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 27 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material 28 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 1 the material is disclosed or produced. 2 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: (a) for information in 3 documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but excluding transcripts 4 of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix 5 at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL 6 legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion of the 7 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 8 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 9 margins). 10 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 11 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 12 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 13 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 14 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 15 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine 16 which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. 17 Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix 18 the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If 19 only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing 20 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 21 appropriate markings in the margins). 22 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party 23 identifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of 24 the deposition all protected testimony. 25 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary 26 and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent 27 place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is 28 stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the 1 information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, 2 shall identify the protected portion(s). 3 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 4 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 5 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 6 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make 7 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 8 provisions of this Order. 9 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 10 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 11 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 12 Scheduling Order. 13 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 14 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 15 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a 16 joint stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 17 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 18 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 19 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 20 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 21 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 22 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 23 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 24 challenge. 25 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that 27 is disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 28 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 1 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under 2 the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 3 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 15 below (FINAL 4 DISPOSITION). 5 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 6 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 7 authorized under this Order. 8 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 9 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 10 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 11 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 12 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 13 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 14 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 15 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) 16 of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 17 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 18 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 19 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 20 (d) the court and its personnel; 21 (e) court reporters and their staff; 22 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 23 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 24 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 25 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or 26 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 27 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in 28 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing 1 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) 2 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 3 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 4 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 5 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 6 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone 7 except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 8 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, 9 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 10 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 11 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 12 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 13 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 14 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 15 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 16 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 17 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or 18 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 19 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall 20 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 21 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 22 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the 23 Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 24 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action 25 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 26 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 27 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 28 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 1 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 2 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 3 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO 4 BE PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 5 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by 6 a Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such 7 information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected 8 by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions 9 should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 10 protections. 11 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, 12 to produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party 13 is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 14 confidential information, then the Party shall: 15 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 16 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 17 agreement with a Non-Party; 18 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 19 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 20 specific description of the information requested; and 21 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 22 Non-Party, if requested. 23 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court 24 within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the 25 Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive 26 to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the 27 Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that 28 is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 1 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party 2 shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its 3 Protected Material. 4 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED 5 MATERIAL 6 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has 7 disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized 8 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) 9 notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its 10 best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform 11 the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms 12 of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 13 “Acknowledgment an Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 14 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR 15 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 16 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 17 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the 18 obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ 19 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever 20 procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 21 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and 22 (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 23 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work 24 product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 25 protective order submitted to the court. 26 14. MISCELLANEOUS 27 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of 28 any person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 1 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 2 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 3 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in 4 this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on 5 any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective 6 Order. 7 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 8 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material 9 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 10 specific Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under 11 seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the 12 public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 13 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 14 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 15 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must 16 return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As 17 used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 18 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 19 Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the 20 Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if 21 not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that 22 (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 23 returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any 24 copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or 25 capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel 26 are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, 27 deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition 28 and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert 1 || work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival 2 || copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this 3 || Protective Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION). 4 16. VIOLATION 5 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures 6 || including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 7 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 ? || DATED: September 17, 2024 if i wpblele af — 12 hited States Magistrate Judge 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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1 EXHIBIT A ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 2 I, [name], of 3

4 [address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 5 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issue by the United States 6 7 District Court for the Central District of California on September 17, 2024, in the 8 case of Melanie Kotlarsz v. Integrity Vehicle Services, Inc., 8:24-cv-00569-FWS- 9 JDE (C.D. Cal.). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this 10 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so 11 comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I 12 solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that 13 is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict 14 compliance with the provisions of this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 16 for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 17 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 18 termination of this action. I hereby appoint [name] of 19

20 [address and telephone number] as my 21 California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any 22 proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 23 Date: 24 City and State where sworn and signed: 25 Printed Name: 26 Signature: 27 28